• When scrambling eggs, you can beat in either milk
or water or use no liquid at all. In fact, if you cook wet
ingredients in the pan before you add the eggs, you may
have more than enough liquid. For gooey, creamy scrambled
eggs, you might prefer to add cubes of cream cheese, dollops
of cottage cheese, or shreds of any firm cheese that melts
well. For added flavor, use a spoonful or two of a salad
dressing, pesto sauce, or salsa or sprinkle on a dash of
an herb or spice. Just keep in mind that colored foods will
lend their color to the eggs.
• Beat as much or as little as you like. Light beating
will produce more dense scrambled eggs with streaks of white
and yellow. Vigorous beating will aerate the eggs to make
lighter, fluffier curds of yellow scrambled eggs.
• For easy clean-up, use a nonstick pan with or without
cooking spray or just a touch of oil, butter, or margarine.
If you're watching your weight and/or your fat intake, there's
no need to drown your scrambled eggs in fat.
• Because eggs go very well with other foods, you
can scramble them with just about anything you have on hand,
including leftovers. Use pasta, rice, or another grain;
dices of cooked meat, poultry, fish, seafood, or veggies;
cubes of soft cheese or shreds of firm cheese. Cook any
raw flavoring foods before you pour on the eggs. The eggs
cook so quickly, the flavoring foods won't get done if you
add them later.
• Cook over medium heat until you can’t see
any liquid egg anymore. If you cook scrambled eggs at too
high a heat or cook or hold them for too long, the iron
from the egg yolks and sulfur from the egg whites will unite
and turn the eggs a harmless, but unsightly, green color.
Using an iron skillet can also cause greening. Serve scrambled
eggs as soon as possible after cooking. If necessary, you
can hold scrambled eggs for a short time if you place the
pan of cooked eggs over a pan of hot water instead of over
• If you stir continually while cooking, your eggs
will break into small crumbles as they set. For large, soft
curds, use slow, gentle movements to move the eggs in the
pan. To avoid tearing or breaking up fairly large pieces
of flavoring foods, instead of stirring, use a spatula or
pancake turner to turn the eggs as they cook.
• To scramble eggs in the microwave, use a microwave-safe
dish. Styrofoam cups and plastic food-storage bags may melt,
especially if you add fat to the eggs, or they may diffuse
unwanted chemicals into the eggs. In a 10-ounce custard
cup, beat together 2 eggs and 2 Tbsp. liquid with desired
seasonings until blended. Omit or add butter, as you like.
Cook on full power, stirring once or twice, until the eggs
are almost set, about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Stir. If necessary,
cover the cup with plastic wrap and let the eggs stand until
they’re thickened and no visible liquid egg remains,
about 1 minute.
The Global Appeal of Scrambled Eggs
In other parts of the world, scrambled eggs take on a new
identity. Chinese, Malaysian, and Thai cooks scramble eggs
into cooked rice, bits of meat, or seafood and veggies to
make stir-fried rice. A favorite lunch dish in Japan consists
of chicken, pork or shrimp, mushrooms, green onions, and
scrambled eggs over rice. Japanese and Thai cooks also scramble
eggs with noodles and veggies and sometimes meat, too. Cooks
in India flavor scrambled eggs with tomatoes, onions, green
chiles, cumin, ginger, and cilantro and serve them with
flat bread while the Vietnamese combine their scrambled
eggs with cabbage, shallots, garlic, chiles, and fish sauce.
Italians prepare spaghetti carbonara by scrambling eggs
into cooked pasta and bacon. In Latin America, scrambled
eggs are flavored with a wide variety of ingredients including:
beef jerky, cheese, mild peppers or hot chiles, cilantro
or parsley, spicy chorizo pork sausage, ham or other meats
or seafood, nopales (cactus paddles), garlic, onions, hearts
of palm, peas, banana-like plantains, sour cream, tomatoes,
salsas of all kinds, and even fried strips of stale tortillas.